Introducing: Dowsing

Chicago just seems to be one of those places where most of the bands emerging are pretty superb. Step up Dowsing, a band with a a sound so brilliantly current and accessible it’s easy to see why their recently released split EP is now in its second pressing. The sound is an indie/emo blend that just hits the spot, and they’re one of the nicest bands we’ve had the joy of speaking to recently.

Below is an interview with the band, also there’s a video interview that was recorded last year in which they talk about some of their favourite bands at the moment and show off their best Dinosaur impression. And we’ve got as a stream of their song Midwest Living – enjoy!

Hey! First of all lets get the introduction out of the way, who is Dowsing and what kind of music do you play?
Well hello! We are Erik Czaja (vocals and guitar), Gooey Fame (bass and vocals), Delia Hornik (organ and vocals) and Marcus Nuccio (drums and vocals)! We play happy sounding songs about sad things.

Talk us through a bit behind the history of the band
Gooey wanted to start a band called Dowsing because that’s a ridiculous name for a band. At a Collective Soul concert whilst singing along to “Shine”, Dowsing was officially formed.

You recently released a split EP with Parker, how did the link up with that band come about?
Marcus is in another band called The Please & Thank Yous, and that band played a show with Joie De Vivre (members of Parker) way back in 2008. The two bands have been super tight ever since, so when Marcus started playing with Dowsing, it was only natural to work together on a release.

How has the reaction been to the EP?
Super great!! We’ve had over 2400 downloads of it from our bandcamp page, and we somehow managed to sell 500 7 inches. It’s now in it’s second pressing! Wild!

What can we expect from Dowsing as we go into the rest of the year?
Next month we have a new record coming out!! It’s called “It’s Still Pretty Terrible” and it’s 10 new tracks about happy sounding sad junk. We will tour with Annabel (also on CYLS) in July/August and The Island of Misfit Toys in August. We will also play the first emo show on Mars ever.

If you can name one, what has been THE highlight of your careers so far?
Oh man, we’ve had so many awesome things happen. We’ve gotten to go on a bunch of tours (even one in Canada!) and we’ve met so many awesome people, but that one time Chris from Brave Bird started yelling at Mannequins and busses in Toronto was pretty great.

Do you think we can expect to see you guys hit the UK at any point soon?
I’m not make any promises, but how rad would summer 2013 be?!?

Is there anything at all you’d like to add?
Eat pizza and listen to Slayer.